Dresden

Dresden has a ton of pretty architecture. All of it was destroyed in WWII and then rebuilt beautifully. The best was Frauenkirche, a church that was only completed two years ago, because it took time to collect the 130€ million or so that it took to build. It's really a beautiful building. Everywhere you turn in Dresden there's some pretty building. It's called "the Florence on the Elbe". Also in Dresden is the new big glass Volkswagen factory, which a few of us toured. It was the most hoity-toity schicki-micki factory in the world. Everything was glass and artfully designed, and they had smooth jazz playing, with wood panelled floors. It seemed kind of like a show factory. You could try out (meaning sit in) a really expensive car, and see on some screens just how high-tech the assembly is (they have self-guided robots that zip around the factory, and other cool stuff). It was all right. Then they kicked us out, because they had a big fancy dinner party coming up in the factory. On the way out, I could have bought a 170€ umbrella.

I also finally got to the Berlin Zoo, where they have the superstar baby polar bear Knut, who was at one time the cutest zoo animal on Earth. Now he's a little bigger, but still cute. He knows he's a star. While the other bears just pace, Knut plays cutely with a toy. Then, he'll walk right in front of the big crowd (and it's overly large), stand up on his hind legs, and strike a pose, which elicits a collected "Ohhhhhh!!!" from the crowd. You can tell he knows that people adore him. Knut is a ridiculous bear. He's also captivated Germany. You can buy an array of Knut books, Knut calendars, Knut dolls, etc. I've even seen a Knut-themed credit card. Otherwise, they had some cool primates, and giraffes, and hippos, and the like. It was a good zoo.

We had a cool Halloween party on the 31st. I dressed as Dan Lojovich, a true character from our group. Halloween exists in Germany, as does trick or treating, but they're not quite as big, and it's hard to trick or treat in Berlin. "Süß oder Sauer" is what the kids say, which means "sweet or sour".

On Monday, we go to Wittenburg for a day, which is where Martin Luther lived. Right now we're reading Faust, Der Tragödie Erster Teil, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It is the German literature. Also really hard. But really good.